St. Anthony Hospital is preparing to build a new emergency room and intensive care unit as part of a six-story, $53 million addition that is scheduled to begin construction next year.

Plans for the St. Anthony Hospital expansion are shown in this drawing. Provided by Rees Associates

Plans for the project are set to be reviewed Thursday by the Downtown Design Review Committee, and if approved, construction is set to start in March with completion by fall 2014.

Joe Hodges, regional president for SSM Healthcare, which owns St. Anthony, said the addition is the largest single expansion to date and will bring the campus investment since 2003 to $220 million.

“It will be a completely new face for St. Anthony,” Hodges said. “It's really significant for us.”

The addition will allow the hospital to consolidate its two separate emergency units and expand bed counts, while freeing up existing space for other hospital operations. The addition includes subsurface parking and a rooftop helipad.

The design by Rees Associates, Hodges said, attempts to present a modern, cutting-edge image while still complementing the historic architecture of surrounding MidTown. Hodges said careful consideration was given to Kaiser's American Bistro, home to the ice cream parlor since 1918.

The adjoining one-story office building, currently home to Upward Transitions, and a surface parking lot will be removed to make way for the building.

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Steve Lackmeyer is a reporter and columnist who started his career at The Oklahoman in 1990. Since then, he has won numerous awards for his coverage, which included the 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building, the city's Metropolitan...